


Retributions

by Fluffiester (Patherfind)



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Blood, Fire, Gen, Gore, Guns, Haiku, How do I tag again, Injury, Insanity, Krieg is crazy, Many emotes, Mild Cursing, Pain, Short Chapters, Snow, Vault hunters are named, Zer0 is a weirdo, bandits will die, ill update often though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-25 13:37:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18575557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patherfind/pseuds/Fluffiester
Summary: In the wastelands, basically only NPCs and Vault hunters survive. Our story will be about the latter!Shad0w assumed they was alone after the incident. But then they met Carnage (Krieg) and Maybe (Maya). Hard to work with for the loner assassin, but it should be an interesting, bumpy ride.(This WILL involve mOrE Krieg stuff later! And terrible haikus.)





	1. Beginnings

Our little story starts off on a train, rocketing through the desert terrain on an elevated track. The train clung to it rather than riding on rails. Despite the slightly more advanced technology, it was still slightly beat up by the buffeting sands. Aboard were six vault hunters, all chasing after a single, new lead that brought the promise of endless powers and riches. Once the information was passed into their hands by some rich snob, they had all been off. There they had met with each other, though no one seemed to be talking much on the ride.

A Siren. An assassin. A Gunzerker and your standard soldier occupied the main car. Though, also accompanying them was a twitchy guy in the wrong train cart and a teenage girl sitting in the front right corner, tinkering with some robotics on her arm. They were an odd bunch for sure, but together they were a mighty force to be reckoned with... All badass in their own right.

From aura alone, the assassin in the very back corner of the cart sizes each one of them up, in case of betrayal. Greed for riches, unwilling partners who showed no interest in splitting the value evenly. It had happened on these jobs many times before for the Assassin, so they knew better than to be trusting. This was another reason that the mysterious figure preferred solo missions, but this one offered such a challenge.. Enough to quell the boredom that settled on their mind. As it turns out though, betrayal from this bunch wasn’t what got them all.

Of course the one who betrayed the mission was the rich one behind it all. Loader bots and bandits infested the train, for the group to fight their way out. With grace and speed, the assassin exited the train, prepared to take on any enemies that dared sneak through the roof hatch. The train, by now, had travelled pretty far. They were out of the desert now and heading for cooler areas. The change in temperature barely bothered them. Their sword sang for blood so they obeyed, slicing through machinery and flesh alike.After getting quite a bit of them, there was a blast that left his ears ringing, despite the filter his gear provided. That was the last thing that they could remember before blacking out.

...

The shady assassin, Shad0w, aka Zer0, stood atop an icy glacier, holding a beat up sniper rifle, simply looking through the scope.It was used to give them a nice vantage, spotting and dispatching any enemies that dared sneak up on the ninja, Shad0w. It was through dimmed sights that they could see a dimmed flash of blueish purple light in the distance, surprising them enough to pull away from the gun’s scope. Such... Radiance. Power. Energy... A slaughtering of dozens of bandits.  
Of course, they knew that this was the power of a Siren. No one fucked with a Siren. And so Shad0w went off to see them, sadly only finding the remnants of a once flourishing bandit town. Had she taken them all out herself?...  
Fascinating. **:)** Surely this could be a worthy challenge. It wasn’t like they were going to be hunting a vault any time soon. Though, who knows how it would all turn out. Or if any of the other hunters were even alive. Shad0w knew that he was only alive due to his armor and tech, his natural resilience. Until Zer0 gained further information, they were to be presumed dead.

Speaking of dead... His alias, to not raise any suspicions from any locals who might know of them, was created. Shad0w. Quite fitting, considering his black outfit, fit with few yellow stripes. How it stood out amongst the snow, a harsh contrast reminding them that they were out of their element... Very

The floor and elevated platforms of the bandit camp were littered with dead bodies and bullymongs, garbage level weaponry abandoned at the site. There were, however, a few shields that outranked their own. Shad0w took that, quickly replacing the old one and discarding it in the snow. This was something that would help them in the long run, until Shad0w could get supplies on par with what they lost in the explosion.

Money was money, even if it was bloodstained and lacking, it was also pocketed. Now though, concerned with money, Shad0w swept up quite a few of the more higher valued weapons, ready to sell them whenever they found a suitable vendor.  
Now, with a mission in mind, more important than assisting that small, annoying robot for the time being, they would go to the town he had been told of. He could only imagine that the Siren had beat him to the punch. Though, their reasoning for not going was more to remain in solitude while honing this blade and their mind. 

...

Through the icy glaciers and flurries they went, slashing down any and all enemies in their path. The chill was unforgivable. Some side missions done, some battle cars were blown up, bandit blood rained down. Small sustained injuries were cast aside, traded for small purchases from medicine vending machines, even if the needles were rusty, the confident Assassin was sure that no tetanus would affect them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Upcoming chapters will be longer! Y’all know how this starts!


	2. Chapter 2

Sanctuary and its surrounding areas contrasted greatly from the frigid plain that Zer0 had found themself on. It was slightly too warm and too dry to be comfortable, especially in their full body suit, and the sand eroded much of everything that stood, having a habit of getting into the joints of his gear. Such an inhospitable place to live, no good, awful. **:(**  
But despite that, many friendlies resided here. The people that would not kill Zer0, or try. It wasn’t like they actually could. In fact, people that seemed to look up to them, even though they remained hidden for most of their time here. For reasons that eluded the assassin, people seemed happy here. Honestly, Shad0w would rather live near icy bandit camps. Better cold than overheated, better putting bullets through heads than going stir crazy in a very small settlement. While it was larger than most places, it still failed to compensate for Zer0’s need to be active. Doing something with their time, other than scaling buildings in the dead of night, which they still tended to do anyways, while waiting for work to fill the request boards.  
But they weren’t only here for jobs. It was logical that the Siren would be here, somewhere. Zer0 needed not to search for her, though. Waiting would be more fun... Or efficient. Of course the Siren was here. They had heard a mumble about it in the local bar. Something about... Being able to melt your brain from just looking at you! Or that she was pretty. The reviews were a very mixed bag of terror and admiration.  
...

Yet that’s not the first oddity that they had come across lurking in the alleyways. From the shadows they saw, across the road, a twitching man. The man was clad in a worn gas mask, gauntlets tinted red with blood, a pair of shorts and some blackened boots, likely from soot and flames. He was missing a shirt altogether, or any other sort of protection from the elements, both cold and heat. The stranger was covered in red paint, scars, and possibly dried blood? Some half healed wounds... Huh, this possible bandit was badly sunburnt. He looked familiar in a way that boggled his mind... Surely this wasn’t... He couldn’t’ve...  
Shad0w stared, intrigued and trying to connect the dots. The man did look quite sturdy, what with all the bulk he was showing off.

The tough look the man had was overshadowed by possible... Insanity. He was currently shouting something at a shut, steel door, banging on the wall beside it in a nice, but annoying-after-a-while rhythm. They had heard the same knock being used by another person earlier, so Shad0w figured that this “vault hunter” was imitating them...  
Vault hunter, because there was no doubt about it. This was indeed the man that had been on the train, who they had thought that only they had noticed, having been the only one to have checked the train cars behind them, where the... Where he had been, Zer0 thought, realizing that he hadn’t gotten any of the vault hunters’ names, other than Axton and Salvador, who were nowhere to be found for now. Possibly dead on a glacier. Claptrap had mentioned finding dead vault hunters before...

“TAAaKE MY PURPLE!!” The man shouted, breaking Shad0w’s train of thought and making them refocus on the situation. He was giving little growls under his breath. In his hands, something that cast a soft purple glow, as the man had been shouting. That must have been some of that Eridium Shad0w had heard really rumors about... They had heard that it was possibly dangerous, possibly poisonous. A danger... To be avoided, of course. Zer0 wasn’t an idiot. A buffoon! Like the Eridium baring psycho clearly was. 

The eye slit on the door was jerked open with a metallic clank. Some equally loud, but muffled words were screamed back at the intruding visitor. Shad0w briefly wondered if the man would take the Eridium, but shoved off their doubts once it came back to mind that this, was in fact, Pandora.   
The disgruntled vault hunter shoved the bar through the gap in the door, and for exchange..? A large, empty container. It looked as if it were to hold ammo of some sort.

A cackle of satisfaction could be heard from the very obviously deranged man. “More POWer!” He must have been grinning hard under the gas mask, what with the laughter he was given. “Heh, I’m rising..” He added darkly, before dashing off down the street with his newly acquired treasure, and lighter pockets from the tedious Eridium being removed. Something down the street...

Shad0w averted their eyes from the fleeing one. Something was off. Something that wasn’t the man running across the road.   
Someone walking down the street, specifically in this direction. They didn’t appear to be a citizen, really...   
**!**  
A blue and orange haired women with blue tattoos staining part of her face and what was exposed of her arms, the rest hidden under her sweater vest and a light shirt. She seemed to be searching for something, eyes sweeping up and down the street.

This was definitely not a normal townsperson, no, this was the Siren he had been seeking. She was as beautiful as Zer0 had heard the others say, and now that he wasn’t surrounded by others, they could see that. Zer0 continued observing, taking a few silent steps backwards, pressing himself up against a concrete wall.  
His expression changed to a dimly glowing **...** , drawing the attention of the pretty looking Siren quickly. She looked to the source of the red light, eyes narrowing to the new stimulus. 

She blinked upon seeing it. Him, actually, she thought. It was hard to see the form of the being, but... The dots floating in front of him gave emphasis to his visor, reflecting off of it in the darkness and naturally drawing her eyes. Not very sneaky, odd... She decided to move closer, continuing to walk and trying to pretend she hadn’t noticed the disembodied emote.

...  
After closing the distance some, she realized that this was that quiet guy from the back of their train car. It was hard to forget someone with such an appearance, even if it was diminished in the shadows. And she couldn’t really get someone who had been there before everything uh... Blew up, out of her mind. 

“You’re that loner?” She greeted, striding over to the spindly figure in the shadows, who finally shifted from his stance against the wall. To her, though, it seemed childish that the hitman had remained motionless, and with those dots in front of him too. A very odd behavior for this type...  
“I’m a loner, hm? / I use the term assassin... / You go by Siren?” Shad0w asked evenly, the **...** disappearing, sinking his features into the obscurity of darkness.

Sort of a rude thing to refer to her as, shame on him. “Well, that IS what I am, but I do have a name, mister shadowy figure with emojis for a face.” She said back to him snarkily, crossing her arms a touch. This seemed to have, maybe had an effect. Zer0 didn’t show much though, simply a ... as he tried to think of a response.  
“Actually! More importantly, I’m looking for Carnage, have you seen him around here by chance?” Maybe asked, watching the stoic face of the vault hunter.  
 **?**  
...Well, then. So much for emotionless. His confusion was a bit humorous to her, but she was doing something sort of important right now. “Oh, for crying out loud, of course you don’t know who that is uh.. Well, he’s loud. You can’t miss him. He has a saw blade on his belt..” She started listing his features. Zer0 thought back to the encounter about two minutes ago, matching up the details.

Ah. She was friends with that twitchy fellow, apparently named... Carnage. From what little he knew of them, the name seemed fitting. His fighting experience could also have something to do with it... An interesting challenge. Or, potential ally, if the Siren was partnered with them as well. It seemed like an odd pair to him, but hey...

“And he’s wearing a gas mask.” She concluded, unsure how she overlooked that pretty major detail. Maybe thought about it, still a bit baffled by the odd apparel. Carnage had yet to explain it to her... In a way that she could understand, at least.

...This confirmed it in his mind then, who he had seen had been a vault hunter. Glancing to the door across the street, he found that Carnage wasn’t there anymore. Curses, of course he wasn’t. Last Shad0w had seen of him, he had been departing, running off into town.  
Shad0w shifted softly on the balls of their feet, pointing. “I might have seen him / He was shouting at a man / over by that door.” The dots went away and he directed his sights back to the Siren, who was thinking.

“Oh. Uh, help me find him, will you?” She attempted making eye contact with Shad0w, however, that was a difficult task considering that she couldn’t see any of his face, if he even had one. Of course he had one, she rationalized. She was being silly. It was just unnerving, not being able to see his eyes. It made her feel... Disturbed?... Sort of...

“Stealth!” Shad0w said suddenly, voice cold, rumbling, deep. It was inhuman, but most likely because of a voice mod, which could have easily been in that helmet for all she knew. Another oddity. Though, she supposed that hiding one’s true voice was common place in the underground world of hitmen and assassins.

Maybe would have given him an odd look for that childish exclamation, but she actually couldn’t see him anymore. Maybe glanced around for him, before giving up her small search and giving a sigh. She shook her head in disapproval. These damn sneaky types, always slithering away and being invisible, like it was a thing to do. 

After a moment, she too went off on the search for her friend, before he ended up bashing his head into a brick wall, or worse. It was something that Carnage tended to do while left to his own devices and the general quietness of town.

...

Hah. Heh.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murder! And blood and guts ahahahhehehhe   
> Ramblings too.

Indeed, if he did end up head butting a stubborn wall or door, it would bleed. He would bleed! The doors blood, that is. Though, that could help with the fire residing in his head blood.   
Carnage walked down the street, dragging their inactive buzzsaw and letting it scrape against the worn pavement.   
The light would have been blinding, the air could have stung. But he had his trusty mask! Block out the tiny man’s toxins, trying to take him over and make him bad. But he wouldn’t stand for it, no...

Walking and walking and walking. Someone was following him. A deserving?... No!   
He shoved the saw into its spot on his belt and flung himself ahead, almost stumbling over the blood inside of him but he managed to regain footing. He dashed through the plaza, breath hitching as the torrents of sand hit against his bare chest. Soon, soon the pitter patter of slammijg his feet into pavement was replaced with the satisfying crunch of sand. Oh the outside world! Full of bones to crunch and blood to mix.   
Now his pace slowed. He took his weapon out again, holding it to the nozzle of his mask and inhaling the essence of it. The blood and souls and screams! All deserved! He did good! Now for more.   
{Wait for your buddy.}  
!!!  
He growled at the needy, wanting tiny man. It didn’t know anything. It only wanted to gut him and replace his insides with lead! He could do that by himself. He didn’t need that pesky Siren! No one! He would be the one to churn the marrow of his enemies!!! Save them! Her!... But who. That baffled him and stirred up red thoughts. Thoughts of violence. 

Dripping dripping with blood and tears of violent stabbing and slashes!!!  
He walked until he was in a new place... Three horns divide. It wasn’t new. But outside the city walls... Bandits!...  
Time to go to work. Today the job is murder, so the blood will fall.   
...  
Hah. Heh. 

Carnage rose the axe above his head and gave a muffled scream, starting to twirl the crude, bandit made weapon above his head. Go time.   
The bandits screamed at him to leave them alone, but how could he? When they so strongly wanted to meet his axe through their face! Screams! Blood! Death! Killing!  
“I WANNA FREEZE YOUR BLOOD AND EAT IT LIKE A POPSICLE!!” Carnage bellowed, chest heaving with every breath he pulled in through the restraining mask. His face was not meant for the sunlight. Not when murder could fulfill just as easily... Sadistic words of glee and command reached the entire camp, more and more warm bodies coming to stab his eyes out! But they would not have the last word! The words, muffled. He could end them first. Sinners, the whole lot of them! He could slice these ones. Worthy! Deserving! Of his vengeance! 

...

This job was easy. Only fifteen bandits to tear through. It barely took three minutes, the bullets and bomb shrapnel pouring into him, through his skin and fueling the flames within.  
Oh sweet agony! Hahah. Chopping and mushing the marrow into little! Dusty! Bits!More for their faces and guts to receive!!!  
...  
Now for the lecture of a lifetime. Though, not the most chewing out he would have ever had. 

—-

The screams and scuffle could be heard from town, though faintly, carried over the hills and echoey eerily. Evilly. A forbidden sound not meant to be heard by any.

Maybe heard them.. She gave a soft sigh, rubbing her face in disappointment for a moment, before jogging towards the exit of Sanctuary. Once the doorway was passed, she broke into a run.

The scene stretching before her was horrific. 

The small camp outside of town, splattered in blood. Piles of bodies. Each being more terrorized than the last. One with their head bashed in and sliced, buzzsawed swiftly. Many covered in deep wounds and bleeding profusely, they would still twitch.   
One bandit had a large gash across the abdomen, nearly cut completely in half, guts and intestines gangly out precariously.   
The eye of the storm, a blood stained and trembling Carnage. He was looking the same direction she was, taking in the destruction and disaster he had caused. “ARgh! Get out of MY HEAD!” He let out suddenly, raising his axe for one last time...   
Maybe tensed, eyes off of the gore scattered about. 

Carnage prepared to bring the weapon down on his own head, but something stopped him. “T-tiny man?!?..” He looked up to his hands, staring straight into the humming saw blade which shook off the bandit blood from earlier, splattering it on his mask and obscuring his already shoddy vision. His one eye, hidden by the guts but he could see! There. Blue and purple around his hands. 

His glare narrowed further. He couldn’t see.   
He couldn’t move his arms or lessen his grip.   
“No no no no NO! Stop it you’re helping!!! I need to FEEL IT!” Carnage seethed, tugging on his arms again to no avail.   
Before he could kill his final enemy, he was blinded by bright light and..! He was outside of the gate to Sanctuary, away from the intoxicating smell of fear and sweat! No! No no no no...  
He lost. The axe was lying on the ground.   
Carnage looked down at his free hands and wiped the blood off the one gap for his good eye, staring at his worthy weapon through the smudge he had created.   
His breath rasped and he went to grab it.   
“Carnage.” Maybe said to him. He paused and looked over, breath rattling, but becoming even slowly.   
Carnage’s beady gaze darted to her. “Siren.” He answered, awfully calm considering the mass murder spree he had just gone on. 

Maybe stared, at a loss for what to say really.   
“..Get any good loot?” She asked in a flat tone. 

Though his face could not be seen, his eye lightened in expression.  
“Good chest! Ammo! Power.” He seemed, voice getting that insane aspect back.   
Carnage took his weapon and pocketed it, well, sheathed it. Not really. The blade wasn’t spinning anymore though. How it worked would always baffle Maybe. 

“Let’s get back to town. We should get doctor Zed to look at that.” She explained, gingerly touching his shoulder and trying to guide him back.  
“Awrgh. I don’t want to go back! No no no!!” He said, but resigned himself to his fate. Carnage could feel his life force waning and wiggling before him. And he was like a mighty tiger! Waiting to pounce on it and kill it with his teeth, bite put it’s throat. But was that him?! Was it really. He felt like it both was and wasn’t. An overlap so distinct that... It made no sense. 

...

Shad0w saw the pair come back into town. They watched from atop a building, looking through a spare scope, salvaged from a particularly useless sniper rifle he had gotten.   
Carnage was the person they had suspected at first. He was covered head to toe in blood, some not his own. Some darker shades. His mask splattered with it. Deep gashes and bullet holes lined him, but he still walked like he was fine. Other than a slight stumble, a gait. Judging from the screaming, this man had fought through a plethora of bandits. For what reason?... He had no guns equipped by the looks of things, only that axe that didn’t even have a rarity that he could see through the scope. 

Shad0w tailed them through town. They noted that the Siren looked incredibly uncomfortable. Together the two went to that odd doctor. The one, to their knowledge that had no medical license. Zed seemed very proud of the fact though, often bringing it up. 

Maybe stood outside of the shady looking building. The fluorescent light outside of it flickered.

From inside, she could hear Carnage arguing and hissing. Zed’s also insane voice. Less so, but... His insanity seemed scarier somehow. Eviler in nature and...  
Ah, who was she kidding. According to Carnage, he sold “feel good needles”. For a walk in appointment, he probably wouldn’t be using those though.

From within, Carnage screamed. Something about LEAVE ME ALONE!  
And GIVE ME YOUR NEEDLES!...

She sighed, leaning against the wall cooly and looking to the skyline.  
She could have sworn that something graced her sight for a moment, but...  
As she blinked and refocused where the shape had been, nothing occupied the spot...

Now, for the waiting game. The game everyone loses... The worst game ever! 

And that’s why Shad0w stopped observing and went to check out the scene of the massacre for themself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some murder! Haikus! And emotes!  
> Also Krieg

Shad0w huffed a slow breath.  
They hopped off a building and ran down the street, activating their Decepti0n mode as they went, wanting to avoid attention for now. Their black and yellow suit stood out in the dull town.  
But they had to see it for themself... If the Siren and Carnage were truly double teaming missions, that could be how they had taken out that bandit town.

From seeing the gore and blood on the ground... Surely it was Carnage that had done the bulk of the work. They were unsure what type of powers the Siren had, some sort of support that worked well with this brutality, Shad0w assumed. It may be beneficial to join forces with the pair, they could support the two from the back line, putting some damage against larger foes while the two swept out the grunts. Shad0w could even pick off some of the more annoying foes before they could toss an odd grenade...  
The thought of murder... Almost made them excited. There would be much loot. Many satisfying headshots and red through the scope.

There were inherent risks in this idea, such as being with the flashy duo. Not that it mattered, neither knew their identity. They all carried bounty. All three knew the risk...

Shad0w tore their gaze away from the emptied camp for a moment. Watching from the doorway, a guard. Shad0w sighed hopelessly, crossing their arms as they backed away from both Sanctuary and the camp. Shad0w needed to clear their head for now. 

A simple mission. Break into a bandit hideout and steal back a laser SMG. The bounty for this side quest was quite lucrative as well. 

Shad0w trekked through the desert, looting ammo as they went and even catching a ride. As the car digistructed, Shad0w couldn’t help but emote a bright red [ :D ], before driving off into the sandy dunes.

Car accelerates.  
Many thrill kills in the hills.  
An empty feeling...

Getting to the place didn’t take too long... There hadn’t been many bandit vehicles up here.  
From the outside it appeared to be a built up fortress utilizing a winding cave, and gun hands for their defenses. Meaning that there was a lot of cover and tunnels. Great for a sniper. The sounds would echo and be disorientating to the bandits, blending into the darkness here would be child’s play. It’s not a challenge. Would it even be worth it..? Ah, to hell with it. Shad0w had accepted the mission, the easy job would be enough to sate them.

They were sure a challenge would come along sooner or later. They always did.

...

As expected, this was not a challenge. 

“You could not see me.” Shad0w said, coming out of stealth as his blade pierced an enemy’s throat, blood spurting and falling before him.  
“How disorientating, to die at gh0st’s blade. Hah. Heh.” 

The blade disappeared once more, and Shad0w prepared to head for the next chamber. His ammunition, eager to seek a headshot, slaughter bandit scum. With calculated steps, Shad0w was prepared to face the next wave of bandits, cooldowns off.

“All the SlIces are already cut!” An echoing, familiar voice called and echoed from somewhere behind them. Shad0w tilted his head slightly and turned their attention to the room behind. There was quiet talking, contrasting from the yell earlier.

Their steps were faster now...  
...  
Shad0w went into Decepti0n mode, taking cover a few moments before Carnage and Maybe came into the chamber...

“Argh! No kill here either! Blood blood blood!!” Carnage shouted, gripping his axe in both hands and giving a growly hell of frustration.

Maybe just looked around, confusing written on her face. One of the bandits was lying face down and still bleeding from the gullet, another two had holes through their heads and another was filled with SMG bullets, right next to the entrance. 

Carnage looked around with a wild look in his exposed eye, hands tightening into fists over and over... ... ...

His breathing got heavy as he looked around at the blood filled room, twitching getting worse for a few moments. “Do you feel the deeep dark warmth?...” A frenzied whisper to the Siren. 

“..No.” Maybe said, though she did feel a bit odd. She felt like she was being watched, but everyone but them in the room was dead. 

“...COME OUT HERE USELESS FLESH PUPPET!!” Carnage shouted at the room, grumbling unintelligibly afterwards, grabbing the axe at his side, the saw edge humming to life and whiring dangerously. Whatever was in this room... It would meet his axe. The voice was silent. Maybe it also didn’t know what was going on. Carnage was glad it had shut up. He could kill the cowardly bandit! Hahaehhe heh hahhahe...

Maybe took a step back and observed the room. She would let Carnage stomp off his frenzy, then they could move forward and either find their objective, or at least some enemies. She doubted that her partner here would enjoy NOT stabbing someone..? At least, not for too much longer. This request was taken mostly to calm him down. She noticed that he got the jitters when he wasn’t creating chaos or sinking his buzzsaw into someone’s rib cage. Or that’s what he tended to yell about. 

She was about to resign herself to urging them to move on, but to her right, the.. Air seemed to shift. Movement, but hard to describe. It seemed like a distortion.  
Surely this wasn’t a bandit. Or maybe a trick of the light.

“Argh. No slices to be chopped here! More deserving await!! GO GO GO KILL STAB!!! CHOO CHOO!”  
Carnage ran out of the room, further into the settlement. 

Somehow, Maybe knew he would be just fine alone. Especially if it was as empty ahead as it had been before.  
But even if here were enemies, Carnage would still be fine...  
How can one enjoy murder so much? These were criminals, but he seemed to go beyond the call of duty when it came to slaughter...

“Who’s there..?” Maybe asked quietly. She didn’t need to be any louder than that... Her tattooed hands found their way to her SMG, which was purple and blue, a blue rarity... Whoever it was, if hostile, would get a few snapshots of bullets put into their face.

Shad0w considered leaving without any confrontation, but... It should end fine. :) 

They uncloaked suddenly, revealing their form in front of Maybe. He was clad in his usual, black and light yellow covering him completely, leaving nothing exposed. 

She gave a yelp of fright as the intimidatingly tall figure suddenly appeared, no longer crouched over. Maybe jumped back, already holding up her weapon. When she looked to him, she realized two things. She wasn’t aiming high enough to shoot this y’all person’s head. And that this was the same mysterious ninja from town.

“Why would you... That was dangerous! Don’t do that again.” She chided. She could have easily shot him just then. Put a dent in that dark armor and probably cause some internal bleeding! Her slagged weapon probably would have done even more harm. The thought sickened her, hurting an ally. 

Maybe was met was a big [ :D ] in her face, from the close proximity of Shad0w.

“I was not worried, it’s not like you can kill me. I am a ninja.”  
[ ;) ]

She just gaped, finally getting the mind to lower her weapon, which had still been pointing to the center of his chest. She held it to her side and sighed softly.

So cocky. And these emotes were... They didn’t seem to be in character for the mysterious “ninja”. 

“You don—“

Her argument was cut off by an echoing scream of...

“I PUT THE PAIN IN YOUR SOUL!!!”  
A scream.  
“HAHA BLOOOOOOD!!! LET ME TASTE IT!”

A few more dull thuds.

[ ... ] 

“It’s ungraceful how, he lacks any precision. How disappointing.” Shad0w chimed in, looking towards the path ahead. 

He (she thought he was a he, at least) pulled his sniper rifle from his back, getting into a lower pose. “Huah.” Shad0w murmured, dashing and bounding towards the new challenge.

“Hey wait up! I can provide some crowd control.” Maybe said, following after the slightly faster assassin. 

“Unnecessary!”  
“I will slay them where they stand!”  
“And then get my loot!”

“...Huh.” She said, subconsciously counting his odd syllable counts. 

“Wait what’s your name!” Maybe shouted after him. But he cloaked and... He was gone. More screams came from further in. Ringing gunshots soon added, blood splattering. And the Siren was left alone to catch up, hopefully the two wouldn’t kill each other or get injured while she was tailing them...


	5. Chapter 5

By the time Maybe arrived in the final chamber with the other two, every other soul was dead. Blood splatters clobbered the floor, a couple of bandits with holes through their heads, many more with slices cut out of them or decapitated, the scent of death was overwhelming.  
Maybe pulled in a quick breath, letting it out and directing her gaze to the two causers of it all.  
Atop a small perch stood the assassin, the sword resting at his side, the edge slicked with dark red blood, dripping slowly off for the edge. 

Carnage sat on the ground giving growls and breathing heavily. He was covered in blood, eye focused on the floor. He held his hands on the floor, resting on his buzzsaw which had stopped spinning. 

“..Are you two alright?” She asked, noting that the cyborg ninja appeared unharmed. It was more directed to Carnage.

His gaze darted up quickly to her, we looking wild in expression.  
“Salt the wound! SALT IT!!” He bellowed, moving his arms and pointing to his torso, covered in bullet wounds.  
He laughed maniacally, punching himself in the stomach to emphasize the bleeding holes. 

(You’re scaring her.)

“YOU! Shut up I’m the train conductor!” Carnage shouted, closing his eyes tightly and growling.

Shad0w, on the other hand, was in perfect condition. Though, blood was splattered on his helmet and some on their gear, if that could be considered perfect condition. They were motionless, quietly checking the surroundings of the bloodied last room.

“...Let’s get out of here.” Maybe said.

Zer0 responder by nodding and giving her a “We’ll leave shortly / There is a mission at hand / I require coin.” He leapt up to the side and went to pick up a gun. Maybe could see the quest marker on it and nodded, giving a sigh. Right. The mission.

Guess he got to the missions before her and Carnage could. That was fine. Carnage saw the assassin looting and gave a small noise of discontent before getting up and going to loot some more himself, despite there not being much of anything much left over from their rampage through the cavern system. The smell of death was rank, the loot bounties low. Even the experienced Zer0 had nothing other than the mission item, and if so it was nothing more than a shield that they could sell for some chump change.

After a bit of scourging around, the three left. Carnage led them, Maybe staying around the middle while Shad0w watched their backs. The trek back consisted of Carnage running at random animals and driving an axe through their skulls, and the assassin taking small leaves from the group, seemingly fading into thin air. Maybe saw though, that whenever he reappeared, his breathing was slightly heavier and his sword had more blood added to the growing puddle it had accumulated along the hilt. 

Why couldn’t Maybe get some normal teammates, instead of being paired up with these two bloodied men. They seemed to be refusing her the chance to help, in her mind. They were always quicker to the draw... What with Carnage’s screaming attracting the enemies, and the seemingly predatory actions of the slender, darkly clothed killer. Every kill he gained was punctuated by a slash **0** appearing over where a face would be.

As town came into view, the amount of encounters lessened. Carnage seemed fidgety now, having run out of things to slash. He restlessly adjusted his grip on his buzz saw, gaze sweeping around dangerously.  
The assassin seemed alright. He had his sniper rifle out, hopping along, bounding over the rugged terrain effortlessly. Maybe wondered how long he had been at this, the vault hunting business. Her herself was new to that aspect, though not the battles, what with being a siren.

...

The mission was turned in, the reward taken and split three ways, everyone getting a piece respectively. It turns out that it wasn’t a very lucrative job, everyone gaining around 500 dollars each. Which was pocket coin for vault hunters in general. 

Carnage turned his bills to Maybe immediately, which weirded her out but, hey. He had insisted on her having it, so she took it gingerly and stored it with the rest of her riches.

Shad0w watched the exchange, mask not showing any of their emotion, if they even had any. 

“Well, see you around I guess.” Maybe said to the mysterious man, who hadn’t even given her his name.  
A bright red **:)** flashed in front of his face, before he left, counting the stack of bills in his hands before his form wavered and flickered- Then he was gone. Carnage was baffled by this, giving a grunt and glancing around. “Where did the cat of darkness go?!... Grrrf...” He murmured, feeling antsy. No one liked a vault hunter who they couldn’t see. At least, he knew he didn’t. He wanted to watch them. Know where they were. 

It unsettled her too, but her partner here looked more murderous than simply ticked off and confused about it. “He’s not red!” He shouted before running off in the vague direction of town center. 

Maybe lingered for a moment, looking into the shadows, before sighing and looking down. That was... Everything about the day had been odd. Waking up to find the psycho not on his usual perch, on the top bunk across from her in the headquarters bedroom. She had gone looking for him.. Only for her to have found someone else. Then... Yeah...

The Siren looked to where Carn had gone and swiftly jogged after him. She doubted that he was dangerous to any of the townsfolk, but the Crimson raiders felt that he was unstable and shouldn’t be alone. It had been a battle in the first place for hem to allow him in town, so she would keep her word and keep watch over the unsteady battle beast. He didn’t seem to mind her company anyways...  
Life might be just a little more complicated with the new vault hunter in town. His aura had been mysterious and withdrawn, not revealing much about himself. For now, he seemed to be a valuable comrade in battle. His sniping, as shown off on the way back, was quite impressive. The fully covered man taking out a small pack of slags from over a hundred meters off without breaking a sweat. His rifle was something powerful. Slagged bullets made easy work of targets that didn’t fall to his skills first, but that had only happened once when the creature suddenly twitched, causing his bullet to pierce their shoulder. And Carnage had finished it off quickly by throwing the buzz axe into its eye.

—-

Zer0 hopped on the buildings, quickly leaving the towns perimeter and heading for the sandy area. As they felt that there were less prying eyes around, he slowed his pace and activated his cloak, disappearing from sight and becoming unheard, footsteps cascading into nothingness. A smiling face flashed across their faceplate, obscuring his vision slightly. It was their quirky way of showing emotion without revealing his identity, and made quite a few enemies mad with his teasing. 

... Step, step. They were by some cliffs. This planet was disgusting to them. No trees in sight, less shadows to take cover in. A planet of metal and rocks, bandits and skags. Don’t forget dust and sand, and a beating sun overhead. A planet with a floating space station in front of it...

Within the cliffs though, a safe space for the assassin. A small nook in the rocks customized for themself, by themself of course. Inside, a small canopy for resting, though it wasn’t required often. It was dark, the only light flowing in coming from the dying day and rising night. 

The small shelter wasn’t much. He had some gun cleaning stuff, some stockpiled bullets and different guns. Mostly snipers and SMGs with different elements. 

Zer0 hummed to himself, crouching down and sitting on his “bed”. It was too low for him to stand at his full height of 6’3’’’. Though it was cozy and quiet, unlike the outside world. They give a small sigh and lean against the wall, gaze flicking to his wall sticky notes. All very important. 

“Rules for ultimate sniping...” “Shadow ninja sword (maintenance)...”  
One only listed emojis. 

“To add in later... ^_^ : / 0_- zZz $ [•_•] =v= :> ;’) :|”  
This is clearly of the utmost importance. Shad0w stared at it, pondering if there were any others to add. Probably not. They had a good range of them to utilize...

They could feel drowsiness settle on them for the first time in about, say, a week? Though it was not an unwelcome feeling. Today had been a good one, work was done. Justice brought, blade fed the blood of dirty bandits and skags. A soft soreness invaded their senses. A good use of their abilities, but not nearly the challenge they were hunting down. 

Zer0 ended his little relaxing time by checking the surrounding area in stealth mode, then retreating back into his small hideaway. They cleaned their weaponry before drifting into a light sleep. Zer0 had never been a heavy sleeper. To be one in his line of work would be dangerous. Their senses needed to be high. Theirs were. And heightened by the suit that they wore, specifically the helmet.. Not the most comfortable thing to sleep in, but it would suffice. Anything else would be unsafe. Zer0 couldn’t risk something like this, even if within the safety of his abode...

With the moon slowly rising higher in the sky, the assassin slept. 

The Siren slept, the psycho slept. All resting peacefully...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave comments or something im lonely xd


End file.
